An appalling incident took place during the wee hours of Saturday 19th March. A 79-year-old Kerala man allegedly killed his son and three others by setting the house ablaze owing to a property dispute.
A 79-year-old man named Hamid murdered his son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters by charring them to death. The victims were Shibu, alias Mohammed Shafi (the son), aged 50, his wife Sheeba, aged 43, and their two teen daughters, Mehru, 16, and Afna, 13.
The incident took place around 12:45 am in the Cheenikuzhy area of Idukki district, Kerala. Allegedly, he doused the house with petrol before torching it up. Hamid was taken into police custody soon after the incident.
Reportedly, the accused moved to his younger son, Shibu,’s house to live there for a while his feud with his second wife cools down. Hamid had two children from his first marriage, one of whom was Shibu, alias Mohammed Shafi. Shibu was residing at the house given to him by his father, the killer here.
A person identified by the name Karimannor, SI K H Hashim, stated that the police set foot on the crime scene at around 1 am. He further added that “the bodies of the victims were found in the bathroom where the family might have migrated to fetch some water after the room was all ablaze, but they were unable to do so as the water supply was already disconnected by Hamid before the incident.” He continued by saying that “it is not clear yet if the young family died due to burns or smoke, and the exact cause of death can only be determined after a post-mortem is done.”
According to a neighbor, the scene inside the house was heart-rendering. The seared bodies of the father-daughter duo were embracing each other. It was a task for the police to separate the bodies.
The killer had at least five bottles of petrol, disconnected the water supply to the house, removed the ropes and buckets from the well so that no one from outside could put out the fire, and waited until midnight to do this terrible thing. Officials said that the night before the event, Hamid and Shibu got into a fight, which could have been a direct cause of the killing.
After committing the crime, Hamid went to one of his relatives’ places, where, according to the relatives, he was planning to go to the police station and confess his sins. The police arrested the man on his way back from the relative’s home. After police took Hamid into custody, he quickly confessed to the crime during questioning.
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
